To be a college student in today's world, one must deal with many things. One of the most important things to deal with is paying for tuition. Every year the bill seems to become larger and larger. Ideally, the financial-aid systems makes it possible for everyone to attend college. Unfortunately, many people lose out because the aid is not presented to them. The problems that students face now are rising tuition, increasing loans, and lacking financial aid to compensate.
             The fastest growing income for public colleges and universities in our country is tuition. Within the last twenty years, it increased an average of 107 percent according to the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. The rate at which it is increasing is far greater that the rate of inflation. Tuition cost the average American family thirteen percent in 1980; it now costs over twenty-five percent.
             Most students must take out loans to make it through college now. In the year 1989, a lower income college senior graduated with an average of $7,629.00 in loans. Last measured in 1999, a college student with the same financial situation graduated with an average debt of $12,888.00.
             The actual amount of financial aid given out has increased but not as much as tuition. The average aid given to needy students in 1986 went down from ninety-eight percent of tuition paid to fifty-seven percent in 1999.
             All of these problems can be fixed if possible aid sources are presented right away and more often to students. Students can utilize the Internet for financial aid opportunities at www.finaid.com. Also, high school and college counselors have many resources for financial aid. If a student happens to not qualify for other financial aid, the Stafford Subsidized Loan is for any student regardless of need. Students have the right to know all of the options for financing their college education.
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